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Good morning. Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell writing this morning from New York. If you\u2019ve heard of Bill Ackman, you probably have an opinion of Bill Ackman.<\/p>\n
The outspoken billionaire is the founder of Pershing Square, a hedge fund that has made wildly successful bets (like Chipotle and Canadian Pacific Railway) and overcome epic disasters (like Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Herbalife).\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I was researching Ackman for the latest episode of my Fortune 500: Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast, I was struck by qualities he expressed when he was young that would later shape his career.<\/p>\n
One was his ambition. As a teenager, Ackman predicted to his dad (who gave him no allowance and declared he would never receive an inheritance) that he would become a millionaire by age 30, have $100 million by age 40, and become a billionaire by age 50. Ackman wound up hitting each of those milestones ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n
When he started his first firm, Gotham, out of Harvard, Ackman secured financing by cold-calling moguls on the Forbes 400 list, a ranking of the wealthiest Americans. \u201cI figured if I want to raise $10 million, why not go to the richest people in the world and ask them for a relatively small amount of money?\u201d he told me. A few said yes.<\/p>\n
Another attribute from Ackman\u2019s early life that has remained constant is his unwavering conviction. A friend commented in his yearbook that \u201ca closed mouth gathers no foot.\u201d In the years since, Ackman has gained 2.7 million followers on X while arguably gathering many feet.<\/p>\n
He has been loudly opinionated on a range of polarizing societal topics that stray far outside the bounds of Wall Street. As he told podcaster Lex Fridman a few years ago when he described his tussles with figures like Joe Biden and then-Harvard president Claudine Gay: \u201cI\u2019m attacking the president, DEI, and elite universities; I\u2019m going to make some enemies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ackman doesn\u2019t seem to mind the blowback. He told me he gets thanked more than he gets bashed. \u201cI\u2019m not going to lose my job, and I can say exactly what I think,\u201d he told me\u2014then offered an example: \u201cSome people are like, well, I\u2019m not going to open a Trump Account for my child because I don\u2019t like that it\u2019s called \u2018Trump\u2019 Account. Okay, that\u2019s stupid.\u201d (Based on this Fortune overview of Trump accounts, Ackman may be right.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
In my conversation with Ackman, he made the case for recent investments in companies like Uber and Meta, and why he\u2019s bullish on Anthropic and skeptical of OpenAI ahead of the rumored IPOs. But he also delved into another investment he\u2019s making that\u2019s much more personal: A new brain institute in Manhattan, inspired by a family health crisis. \u201cI\u2019ve been very close to that issue in the last six months,\u201d he told me. Another passion project is encouraging Americans, who are increasingly turning to socialism in the midst of the affordability crisis, to love capitalism again. \u201cSocialism is a disaster,\u201d he said. \u201cWatch if Mamdani is successful in implementing these plans. Watch what happens to New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n
And if you don\u2019t agree with his opinions, Ackman openly invites you to challenge him, an expectation he has of all his employees and board members.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m focused on what I believe to be the truth, and I\u2019m very happy to hear your argument if you think I\u2019m wrong. I\u2019ll course correct if you convince me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Check out my full interview with Bill Ackman here.<\/p>\n
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com<\/p>\n
Top leadership news<\/p>\n
Can Mistral answer Europe’s AI sovereignty question?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Washington’s brief shutdown of foreign access to Anthropic’s Mythos model validated years of warnings from Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch that Europe risks becoming too dependent on American AI. Mensch positioned his French startup as the continent’s most viable alternative. “It’s been a validation of what we’ve been warning our customers about,” Mensch told Fortune, “make sure that you can actually own that technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
SpaceX\u2019s first earnings report\u00a0<\/p>\n
SpaceX revenue surged 92% to $7.8 billion in its first earnings report since going public, topping Wall Street’s $6.9 billion estimate. Shares fell more than 7% after hours as investors balked at $18.4 billion in quarterly capital spending. Elon Musk said the company’s internal timeline for hitting $1 trillion in annual revenue has moved up from 2031 to 2030, adding “there’s a non-zero chance of that being in 2029”.<\/p>\n
McDonald’s taps 26-year veteran to fix its biggest market<\/p>\n
McDonald’s named Skye Anderson as U.S. president after same-store sales grew just 0.8% in the second quarter, its slowest pace since early 2025, as CEO Chris Kempczinski admitted the chain overwhelmed restaurants with too many product launches. The two executives know each other well, and Anderson\u2019s new gig shows how fast her star is rising.<\/p>\n
The markets<\/p>\n
S&P 500 futures are up 0.28% this morning. The last session closed up 1.79%. The STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.04% in early trading. The U.K.\u2019s FTSE 100 was up 0.16% in early trading. Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 was up 3.66%. South Korea\u2019s KOSPI was up 3.76%. China\u2019s CSI 300 was up 1.24%. Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng was up 0.24%. India\u2019s NIFTY 50 was down 0.41%. Bitcoin was at $64K.<\/p>\n
Around the watercooler<\/p>\n
OpenAI fires back at Apple, publishing private emails to counter trade-secret claims by Beatrice Nolan<\/p>\n
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu once thought his $87 billion company would only make $100 million. He tells founders to be \u2018greedy\u2019 and dream bigger by Emma Burleigh<\/p>\n
Scott Bessent is using moves from his hedge fund days to prop up Japan\u2019s yen\u2014and America\u2019s $40 trillion national debt by Mia Osmonbekov<\/p>\n
\u2018This is insider trading by definition\u2019: Trump sells $100,000 monthly subscription service to Wall Street to further monetize the presidency by Joshua Hong<\/p>\n
CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.<\/p>\n
#Bill #Ackmans #big #bet #convincing #Americans #fall #love #capitalism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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